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Monday, 18 June 2012

Food Art….Invoking philosophical reasoning and creative output.

Food Art….Invoking philosophical reasoning and creative
output.

Pankaja
JK.

“In
India people most people die not due to lack of food but due to over eating of
food…”

This
is no scientific analysis or report on World Food Survey.; but just a moment of
thought given to most basic need of every living being- it is Food. Do we need
food only to keep our body working or is there more profound importance of it
in our life? Thinking about this I found very interesting answer to this
bizarre question. Food has more than physical responsibility- it nurtures
philosophy of life. There are basically two different categories of food that are
necessary to fix and achieve the meaning of life. First is the ‘actual
nutritional diet’, second is the ‘thought as food’.

After
Industrialization the food habit of people especially in urban area changed
rapidly. The trend of processed, packed food developed rapidly. This trend
still continues and it has become a part of everyday lifestyle of people all
over the world. Technological progress is not the only reason for this changing
habit. There is a sly politics behind making people addicted to such habit.
Establishing international market and earning foreign currency is the main aim
of politicizing of food. In fact, Food and Beverage Industry is prospering day
by day. There is a competition in luxurious and stared hotels to present food
with attractive garnishing. We can simply call it ‘food modeling’! This food is
advertised as very healthy and safe, ready to eat food but in reality it is
devoid of any nutrition and it is more harmful to body. Comparing today’s
people to early generation we find more and more of them suffering from
physical ailments due to faulty food habits.

But
the second category of food is common to people from all walks of life and that
category is ‘thought as a food’. Civilizations
have developed and perished but one thing common in all civilizations is the
haunt for food by every surviving soul. Speaking of mankind it has not only
been for satisfaction of hunger but for development and progress too- it has
always been food for thought. There is a very interesting proverb in Marathi
which sums up the basic need of life – Pot
lagle pathishi…phiravito desho deshi…. Which means- Stomach/ hunger/ need
for food follows you (is behind you?) and makes you go places in search of
food. When the basic urge of food is satisfied man is able to think beyond
survival, he is able to think and move on progressive path. The food that is
mentioned here is food that a man needs to develop in his field of interest.
For example, a painter needs inspiration, scientists needs evaluation, a writer
needs stimulation, freedom fighters were lured with the thought of gaining
independence for the country, a laborer
is nurtured by the thought of worrying for his own and family’s survival and so
on.

Every
kind of thought acts as ‘food’. Speaking
of art community, Food has been subject of many artists; creations. Food has
depicted elements in nature, food has represented hunger and vice a versa and
so on. Artists have used food stuffs symbolically.

Out of
many such creations, installation one that has emotional touch is the artwork
of Prashant Hirlekar, a passionate artists who is inspired by household things,
imprinted his favorite ‘Istri’ (Iron) in the shape of a papad (wafer) on aluminum base. He told an interesting story
behind this creation, that during his college days while staying as a paying
guest, he and his other artist friends would have party in anyone friend’s
room. But since during those days paying guests were not allowed to keep gas
stove, it was not possible to prepare any snacks in the room, so he and his
friends would heat the iron and roast the papad
by keeping hot iron on it. This nostalgia has turned out as a memorable
creation of Prashant.

(Title:
Red chilly: archival print on paper by Vishwanath Math.)

Artist
Vishwanath Math has been dedicatedly involved in exploring the depth of mundane
things. His ‘Mundane’
series is his curiosity to search abstract forms and shapes giving some meaning
to it. His photographic skill can be easily felt when we observe chilly and
curry leaves kept on the steel plate. There is nothing unusual about it. We see
it everyday, but the way he has shoot it, makes it seem mouth watering, though
if we eat it raw as seen in photograph we would have watering eyes along with
mouth!

To
sum up, there is no alternative to ‘food’ and important aspect of social,
political, philosophical and aesthetic scenario of the world.